Notes from a Veteran: News and information at The Veterans Site

History's Heroes: Spitfire 944

Jun 7, 2013by Dan Doyle

This is one video you will want to watch over and over again. It is put together by the nephew and grandson of a WWII veteran, Dr. Jim Savage, who served as a medical doctor for a fighter wing out of England during the war. You will learn a lot about him, but the main character in this piece will really get to you. The person focused on in this video flew reconnaissance missions over Germany in a Spitfire fighter plane, but wait until you see what this missions were in that plane.

It seems that Dr. Savage took a lot of photos and film footage of events and places while he was in the war. One day he filmed a Spitfire making an emergency, belly flop landing on the grass at the airstrip where he was stationed. He sent all of these home to his family. After he got home, he went on with his medical career and put these things away.

The nephew came across this film while putting together a documentary about his uncle and the war. He was struck by this particular short film of the crash landing and wondered who the pilot was who survived it, what became of him, and so on. Long story short, he found that the pilot in the film was still very much alive. He contacted him, and went to meet him. He and the grandson, who was the documentary's producer, filmed the encounter. I think you will be as moved as I was by the old veteran's reaction when he suddenly realizes that the film he is watching is of his crash landing on that grassy field so many years ago. It is really quite powerful. Enjoy it.

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